The Intermediary – December 2025 - Flipbook - Page 46
T H E I N T E RV I E W
Avamore Capital
packaging and creating cost breakdowns and
contingencies alongside the client and the
lender in order to ensure a deal gets going on
the right foot, and remains that way.
For experienced developers, this might mean
simple assistance to make sure their vision
is realised, while relying on their expertise.
For those taking early steps in the market,
and for whom “sometimes a little bit of
knowledge is dangerous,” Butler says that “an
experienced broker can help them navigate the
complexities,” ensuring that they are aware of
the pitfalls and have the right plans in place
for success.
This might be as simple as making sure that
an experienced developer does not simply
make a cost estimate based on their market
knowledge, but takes the time to show how
they have reached that conclusion, as well as
working out the different level of contingency
and cashflow that might be needed for
different schemes.
As a result, Butler says: “It’s a partnership.
Clients should ultimately see both the lender
and broker as their team.”
Shifting landscapes
Avamore Capital’s suite of products and broad,
flexible approach to lending means that it can
follow trends and tastes as they change.
At the moment, Butler says, the
refurbishment and conversion market makes
up around two-thirds of its lending – covering
everything from auction refurbs to large
commercial conversions.
Developers are gravitating more to this space
due to the more predictable costs involved at
a time when the hunt for stability is front of
everyone’s minds.
Avamore Capital sees itself as having a key
role to play in simplifying what could otherwise
be a complex “minefield” of confusing terms
and lender criteria to help keep refurbishment
– heavy, light, and more – projects moving.
Other factors currently affecting the
development market are slower sales at the
end of a project, which are making longer
facility terms increasingly crucial to give
developers the breathing room to exit a
project successfully.
Meanwhile, providing higher leverage
is important, but this must, Butler says,
be balanced with rigorous costings and
contingencies in order to ensure that Avamore
is lending sustainably and can support projects
well into the future.
Of course, the constant backdrop to today’s
development market is the contentious
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The Intermediary | December 2025
The constant backdrop to today’s
development market is the contentious subject of
Labour’s house building targets, and in a broader
sense, the well-known imbalance between demand
and supply of housing. Within this landscape, while
some larger developers sit on banks of land until
it makes more sense to develop them, small to
medium (SME) developers are “vital to the market”
which still faces a “huge shortfall”
subject of Labour’s house building targets, and
in a broader sense, the well-known imbalance
between demand and supply of housing.
Within this landscape, while some larger
developers sit on banks of land until it makes
more sense to develop them, small to medium
(SME) developers are “vital to the market”
which still faces a “huge shortfall.”
Avamore Capital sees itself as a champion for
SMEs. While large sprawling housing schemes
will tick numbers off Labour’s target in bigger
chunks, the housing crisis will not be solved by
this alone.
Smaller projects are key to filling the gaps –
even just creating one or two additional units
on a plot of land, in some cases – creating
homes where they are needed and wanted, and
keeping the market and the economy on the
move without having to rely on large players
and vast, lengthy schemes.
This also fits with the literal landscape of the
UK, which only has so much space available for
sprawling schemes, but where there is plenty of
opportunity to be found on the smaller scale for
those willing to look.
While some lenders might understandably
want to focus entirely on larger loans, Avamore
has found an important niche in supporting
sub-£1m schemes upwards. This also includes
helping new developers into the market, where
other lenders might turn away any but the
most experienced, leaving deals – and potential
homes – on the table.
Butler says: “We found a real space for
ourselves with those smaller schemes.
“We also support a number of experienced
contractors who come to us and say, ‘I’ve made
a lot of clients a lot of money, and now I want
to get out there and try and do it myself’. The
care and attention they give to these schemes is
